JerryWorld: Sean Lee Just Got Jacked Out Of $2 Million Next Season

Tanya Ray Fox 03:50 pm, January 03rd, 2016

Even when they are already out of playoffs, you can always count on Jerry Jones and the Cowboys to be a real Week 17 buzzkill.

Dallas linebacker Sean Lee had missed two games this season heading into the final week of the regular season: Week 6 and Week 10, both due to concussion concerns. Other than that he'd been a fairly healthy contributor all year, including racking up 15 total tackles in last week's game against the Bills.

That's why it was more than a little curious that he was sat in Week 17 with a hamstring issue. Not only had his hamstring not kept him out of a game this season, but he was playing very well as of last week.

As a direct result of not playing in Week 17, Lee will lose out on a $2 million escalator on his base salary of $3 million in the 2016-17 season. In order to receive the extra $2 million, Lee would had to have played 80 percent of the Cowboys snaps in the 2015-16 season.

It seemed like it was a fair incentive for Lee, who has struggled with injury issues across his career and missed all of last season with a torn ACL. But hes hardly to blame for failing to hit his mark if Jones manufactured a way to essentially cheat him out of the extra cash. And let's be honest, all signs point to something being a little fishy.

You've got to be a little bummed for Lee. Firstly there is the fact that the Cowboys, and Jones specifically, aren't exactly hard up for cash. In 2015 Forbes named the Cowboys as the second most valuable sports team in the world behind Real Madrid. Plus, Lee has been a reliable and hardworking cog in the Cowboys defense when he's been healthy; a commodity for a team that has had so many off-the-field issues with their star talent.

To be fair, the Cowboys will be paying Darren McFadden an extra $300,000 based on an incentive in his contract that allowed him the bonus if he surpassed the 1,000-yard mark this season. Still, 300 grand is a mere fraction of what Lee was set to earn. Hopefully Lee was approached about it by Jones ahead of time, and some other incentive was worked out because he clearly did everything he could to be on the field this year.